Survey: Email marketing underused for lead generation

A new report from Advertise.com suggests marketers may be missing lead generation opportunities by underutilizing email marketing, with only 36 percent of respondents saying they use third-party opt-in email campaigns.

Respondents voted the channel the most underused lead generation tool, with 20.3 percent of marketers agreeing they could leverage email more effectively. Display advertising was a close second, with 19.1 percent of participants saying they could use the channel to maximize their leads.

“As these professionals test [email marketing campaigns] out and see the results, they'll begin to add this powerful option to their arsenal. Since consumers previously opted in to receive updates from our publishers, these email campaigns work extremely well, with an average conversion rate of 9 to 13 percent,” Daniel Yomtobian, founder and CEO of Advertise.com, explained.

As for the most effective lead generation tools, respondents favored online channels. Nearly two-thirds of marketers (35.9 percent) said pay-per-click search marketing generated the best results. Online display campaigns and email were also in the top four, while traditional channels, such as direct mail and cold calling, were voted the least effective.

Whether marketers are using email, search or any other online channel, engaging and insightful content is key, as it can help brands develop meaningful relationships with prospective leads. However, finding time to create that content can be challenging, with nearly three-quarters of marketers telling HiveFire that creating original content is the hardest part. With this in mind, businesses might turn to qualified content writers to produce the branded blogs, news and other content that will fuel their email marketing campaigns.

Thoughts?

http://twitter.com/faust6 Nauman Lodhi

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